Communication apparatus and method for controlling the same

ABSTRACT

An operator is prevented from accidentally operating a communication apparatus during short range communication, even if there is an incoming call/mail. A communication apparatus has at least a first communication unit that performs wireless communication for a call or a mail, and a second communication unit that is different from the first communication unit. The communication apparatus changes a notification function that notifies a user of an incoming call/mail received by the first communication unit to a prohibited status in accordance with a start of communication by the second communication unit, and cancels the prohibited status of the notification function in accordance with an end of communication by the second communication unit.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates to a communication apparatus, such as amobile phone, that has a plurality of communication functions, and amethod for controlling the same. More specifically, the inventionrelates to a processing method performed in a case in which there is anincoming call or mail or the like during communication.

BACKGROUND ART

In recent years, a mobile phone has included a function that performsdata communication using a function for second communication, which isdifferent from communication with a mobile phone, in addition to a callfunction and a mail function. Examples of the second communicationfunction include a wire communication function such as RS232 or USB, anda short range communication function such as RFID, FeliCa, or NFC (nearfield communication). Moreover, in recent years, due to the realizationof high-speed technology in short range communication, it has becomepossible for a large amount of data to be transferred between a mobilephone and a personal computer (hereinafter, referred to as PC) and thelike.

Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2004-242274 proposes a method in whicheither a mobile phone function or a second communication function can beactivated, or both of the functions can be activated in this type of amobile phone by using a switching signal. This method enables addressinga problem that occurs when the mobile phone function and the secondcommunication function are used at the same time.

In a general method, when there is a desire to use the mobile phonefunction and a short range communication function as the secondcommunication function at the same time, it has been necessary to setboth functions so as to be operable at all times. In this case, however,if there is an incoming call/mail to the mobile phone during short rangecommunication, an operator may accidentally operate the mobile phone,thus resulting in a failure in the short range communication, which is aproblem. That is, during short range communication with a mobile phonehaving a short range communication function, a failure occurs in theshort range communication if the operator accidentally operates themobile phone because of an incoming call/mail to the mobile phone or thelike, which is a problem.

DISCLOSURE OF INVENTION

The present invention was achieved in view of the above problems. Thepresent invention provides a communication apparatus and method whichprevents an operator from accidentally operating the communicationapparatus during short range communication, even if there is an incomingcall or mail or the like.

According to one aspect of the present invention, there is provided acommunication apparatus comprising: a first communication means forperforming wireless communication for at least a call or a mail; asecond communication means that is different from the firstcommunication means; and a prohibition means for changing a notificationfunction that notifies a user of an incoming call/mail received by thefirst communication means to a prohibited status in accordance with astart of communication by the second communication means.

Also, another aspect of the present invention, there is provided amethod for controlling a communication apparatus that includes at leasta first communication means for performing wireless communication for acall or a mail and a second communication means that is different fromthe first communication means, the method comprising a prohibition stepof prohibiting to notify a user of an incoming call/mail received by thefirst communication means in accordance with a start of communication bythe second communication means.

Further features of the present invention will become apparent from thefollowing description of exemplary embodiments with reference to theattached drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an example of an overall configuration of ashort range communication system according to a first embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing an example of an internalconfiguration of a mobile phone according to the first embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing an example of an internalconfiguration of a reading unit and a PC according to the firstembodiment.

FIG. 4 is a flow chart illustrating processing performed by the mobilephone according to the first embodiment.

FIGS. 5A and 5B are flow charts showing short range communicationprocessing performed by the mobile phone according to the firstembodiment.

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION

Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the present invention will bedescribed with reference to the attached drawings.

<First Embodiment>

FIG. 1 shows an example of an overall configuration of a short rangecommunication system according to the first embodiment. In FIG. 1,reference numeral 101 designates a mobile phone, reference numeral 102designates a reading unit for short range communication, and referencenumeral 103 designates a PC.

The mobile phone 101 performs a mobile phone call function and a mailsending/receiving function, by connecting to a mobile phone base station(not shown). In addition, the mobile phone 101 has a short rangecommunication function, and by placing the mobile phone 101 in aprescribed position on the reading unit 102, data can be mutually andwirelessly transferred between the mobile phone 101 and the PC 103connected thereto via the reading unit 102.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing an example of an internalconfiguration of the mobile phone 101 according to the first embodiment.In FIG. 2, reference numeral 201 designates a CPU that controls entireoperation of the mobile phone, reference numeral 202 designates adisplay, reference numeral 203 designates a vibration unit, referencenumeral 204 designates a microphone for calls, reference numeral 205designates a first speaker for calls, reference numeral 206 designates asecond speaker for incoming call/mail alert sound, and reference numeral207 designates an operating unit composed of a plurality of keys.Further, reference numeral 208 designates a memory that stores variousoperating programs for controlling operations of the CPU 201, referencenumeral 209 designates a first communication unit that processes amobile phone communication function, and reference numeral 210designates a mobile phone antenna. Also, reference numeral 211designates a second communication unit that processes a communicationfunction for short range communication, and reference numeral 212designates a coupler for short range communication.

A description of detailed operations in the mobile phone function thatuses the first communication unit 209 is omitted herein due to beingknown technology, and not being essential matter of the presentinvention. When the mobile phone 101 receives an incoming call or anincoming mail from the base station, a message showing that there is anincoming call/mail is displayed on the display 202 so as to notify anoperator. Moreover, when receiving an incoming call or an incoming mail,the mobile phone 101 notifies the operator that there is an incomingcall/mail, by causing the vibration unit 203 to vibrate. Upon noticingthat there is an incoming call/mail, the operator answers the incomingcall or displays and reads the received mail by operating the operatingunit 207.

The second communication unit 211 is a communication unit that realizesa function for communication called short range communication. Bybringing the coupler 212 close to a coupler of another device with whichthe coupler 212 intends to communicate, an induced electric field actsbetween the couplers, so that the second communication unit 211 realizeswireless communication. The power applied in the coupler 212 isextremely weak, and communication is performed at an electric fieldintensity that is less than or equal to 35 μV/m, which is aspecification for an extremely low power radio station, and therefore alicense is not necessary. In the present embodiment, when couplers arebrought close to each other within zero to a few centimeters,communication can be performed. However, when the couplers are separatedfarther than that communication range, communication cannot beperformed, resulting in communication failure. Communication betweencouplers is performed in a range that is much narrower (shorter) thanthat of communication with the base station, and is a function forperforming communication in a narrower communication range than that ofthe first communication unit 209.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing an example of an internalconfiguration of the reading unit 102 and the PC 103.

Reference numeral 301 designates a coupler for short rangecommunication, reference numeral 302 designates a communication unitthat processes a communication function for short range communication,reference numeral 303 designates a light emitting unit, and referencenumeral 304 designates a USB interface.

The coupler 301 is connected to the communication unit 302, and realizesshort range communication by being brought close to the coupler 212. Thelight emitting unit 303 is a light emitting unit that lights up duringshort range communication so as to visually notify the operator thatcommunication is being performed.

Reference numeral 311 designates a CPU that controls operation of the PC103, reference numeral 312 designates a memory that stores an operatingprogram, reference numeral 313 designates a USB interface, referencenumeral 314 designates a display, reference numeral 315 designates akeyboard, and reference numeral 316 designates a hard disk.

The CPU 311 controls the communication unit 302 via the USB interfaces313 and 304, and controls short range communication between the mobilephone 101 and the reading unit 102 via the coupler 301.

In the PC 103, a short range communication processing program 321 storedin the memory 312 is waiting to operate at all times. Thus, when themobile phone 101 is placed in a position on the reading unit 102 whereshort range communication can be performed, a connection notificationcommand is notified from the reading unit 102 to the PC 103 via the USBinterfaces 304 and 313, and short range communication processing begins.An example of the short range communication will be described later.

FIG. 4 is a flow chart showing processing performed by the mobile phone101 according to the first embodiment.

After starting up due to a power-on operation, the mobile phone 101repeats processing so as to be waiting to perform operation judgmentprocessing (step S1), incoming call/mail judgment processing (step S2),reading unit detection judgment processing (step S3), and power-offprocessing (step S4) (standby processing loop).

By performing operation processing 221 in the memory 208, the CPU 201 ofthe mobile phone 101 realizes operation processing described below. Whenperforming the operation judgment (step S1), the CPU 201 judges whetherthere is an input of an operation from a user. When the CPU 201 judgesthat there is an input of an operation because some kind of inputprocessing has been performed, the CPU 201 analyzes the content of theoperation (step S6). Then, if the CPU 201 judges that the operation isan outgoing call operation (step S7), outgoing call processing (step S8)is performed in accordance with a designated telephone number, andprocessing returns to the standby processing loop. On the other hand, ifthe operation is not outgoing call processing, the CPU 201 subsequentlyjudges whether the input of an operation is a mail sending operation(step S9). Then, if the operation is judged to be a mail sendingoperation, mail sending processing (step S10) is performed so as to senda mail containing designated content to a designated address, andprocessing returns to the standby processing loop. Further, if theoperation is not a mail sending operation either, the CPU 201 performsoperation processing (step S11) in accordance with the operation, andprocessing returns to the standby processing loop.

By performing incoming call/mail processing 222 in the memory 208, theCPU 201 of the mobile phone 101 realizes incoming call/mail processingdescribed below. First, when performing the incoming call/mail judgment(step S2), the CPU 201 judges whether there is an incoming call/mailfrom a mobile phone network. If there is an incoming call/mail, the CPU201 judges whether the incoming call/mail is a mail to be received (stepS12). Then, if it is judged to be a mail to be received, the CPU 201performs mail receiving processing (step S13) using the firstcommunication unit 209. If the incoming call/mail is not a mail to bereceived, the CPU 201 judges it to be an ordinary incoming call andperforms incoming call processing (step S14) using the firstcommunication unit 209, in accordance with an operation of the operator.

By performing short range communication processing 223 in the memory208, the CPU 201 of the mobile phone 101 realizes short rangecommunication processing described below. The CPU 201 detects a partnerdevice with which short range communication is to be performed in thereading unit detection processing (step S3). When the mobile phone 101is placed on the reading unit 102, the CPU 201 judges that the shortrange communication partner device has been detected. If the readingunit 102 is detected in the reading unit detection processing (step S3),the CPU 201 performs short range communication processing (step S15)using the second communication unit 211. In the present embodiment,communication is performed with the PC 103 via the reading unit 102,which is the short range communication partner device. In the PC 103,detection processing 324 detects the short range communication partnerdevice based on a signal from the reading unit 102 (coupler 301), andthereafter, short range communication processing 321 begins short rangecommunication. When the short range communication processing 223 ends,processing returns to the standby processing loop. The short rangecommunication processing 223 will be described in further detail later.

By performing power-off processing 224 in the memory 208, the CPU 201 ofthe mobile phone 101 realizes power-off processing described below. Whenperforming the power-off judgment (step S4), the CPU 201 judges whetherthe operator has performed an operation to turn off the power of themobile phone 101 using the operating unit 207. If the operator performedthe power-off operation, the CPU 201 performs power-off processing (stepS5) and thereafter ends this processing. In the PC 103, in accordancewith the end of data transfer by data transfer processing 322 ordetection of irregularity by irregularity processing 323, disconnectionprocessing 325 starts up, and the short range communication isdisconnected.

FIGS. 5A and 5B are flow charts showing detailed processing of the shortrange communication processing (step S15) shown in FIG. 4.

First, in the short range communication processing, the CPU 201 performsconnection setting processing (step S21) for establishing acommunication channel for short range communication between the secondcommunication unit 211 of the mobile phone 101 and the communicationunit 302 of the reading unit 102. When the connection setting processing(step S21) is completed, the CPU 201 sets incoming call/mail alertdisplay on the display 202, incoming call/mail alert sound from thesecond speaker 206 and incoming call/mail alert vibration of thevibration unit 203 of the mobile phone 101 to OFF (step S22). That is,in accordance with the start of communication by the secondcommunication unit 211, notification functions (for example, incomingcall/mail alert display, incoming call/mail alert sound, and incomingcall/mail alert vibration) used for notifying the user that there is anincoming call/mail received by the first communication unit 209 arechanged to a prohibited status. Accordingly, even if there is anincoming call/mail, the mobile phone 101 will not notify the operatorthat there is an incoming call or an incoming mail. Subsequently, theCPU 201 starts data transfer by short range communication (step S23). Inthe PC 103, under the control of short range communication processing321, the data transfer processing 322 is performed and thus, datatransfer between the mobile phone 101 and the PC 103 is performed.

Note that in the data transfer start processing (step S23), informationindicating the amount of data to be transferred is obtained frominformation appended to the head of the data. When performing datatransfer from the mobile phone 101 to the PC 103, transfer data 225 isread from the memory 208 and sent from the second communication unit211. Note that, when performing data transfer from the PC 103 to themobile phone 101, the CPU 201 stores data received by the secondcommunication unit 211 in free space in the memory 208.

During data communication by short range communication, the CPU 201repeats incoming call/mail judgment (step S24) and data transfer endjudgment (step S25). Note that, during data transfer, the light emittingunit 303 of the reading unit 102 lights up so as to notify the operatorthat communication is being performed.

When data transfer by short range communication ends (steps S24 and S25)without receiving a call or mail, the CPU 201 performs short rangecommunication disconnection processing (step S26), and the short rangecommunication between the mobile phone 101 and the PC 103 ends. Then,the CPU 201 sets the incoming call/mail alert display on the display202, the incoming call/mail alert sound from the second speaker 206 andthe incoming call/mail alert vibration of the vibration unit 203 of themobile phone 101 to ON (step S27). That is, in accordance with the endof communication by the second communication unit 211, the prohibitedstatus of the notification functions for notifying an incoming call andan incoming mail is cancelled.

Next, the CPU 201 checks whether there is a history of a mail receivedduring data transfer processing by the short range communication (fromafter step S22 is performed until before step S27 is performed). Then,if there is a received mail in the history, the CPU 201 notifies theoperator by displaying a message showing that there is a received mailon the display 202 (step S28).

Note that a mobile phone generally has a function, such as a mannermode, for example, for switching ON and OFF the performance of incomingcall/mail alert display, incoming call/mail alert sound, and incomingcall/mail alert vibration. Accordingly, in step S22, among incomingcall/mail alert display, incoming call/mail alert sound, and incomingcall/mail alert vibration, any notification function that is in an ONstatus is turned OFF. Also, any notification function that was turnedOFF in step S22 may be turned ON in step S27.

Next, the case in which there is an incoming call/mail during datatransfer by short range communication will be described. When it isjudged that there is an incoming call/mail in the incoming call/mailjudgment processing (step S24), the CPU 201 judges whether the incomingcall/mail is an incoming mail (step S29). When the CPU 201 judges it tobe an incoming mail, the CPU 201 performs mail receiving processing(step S36). Then, the CPU 201 records the received mail in a history(step S37), and processing returns to a data transfer processing loop(steps S24 and S25).

In step S29, if the incoming call/mail is not a mail, it is judged to bean incoming call. When it is judged to be an incoming call, the CPU 201calculates a remaining data amount of the short range communication thatis being performed, and calculates a remaining communication time forcompleting the data transfer from the remaining data amount andcommunication rate (step S30).

Then, the CPU 201 judges whether the remaining communication time isshorter than a predetermined value α (step S31). If the remainingcommunication time is longer than or equal to the value α, anotification of incoming call block(reject) is sent as a reply to anincoming call to the mobile phone (step S38).

On the other hand, if the remaining communication time is shorter thanthe predetermined value α, the CPU 201 holds an incoming call to themobile phone (step S32). This processing is to hold the incoming call,and the incoming call is seemingly not answered at all. That is, theother party of communication (caller) thinks that the mobile phone justkeeps ringing. Note that the other party of communication may benotified that the call is put on hold in the same way as a case of usingwhat is known as a “hold button” for holding the line. Then, the CPU 201waits until the data transfer ends (step S33), and performsdisconnection processing of the short range communication (step S34)when the data transfer ends. Subsequently, the CPU 201 cancels theholding of the incoming call performed in step S32 (step S35). Further,incoming call/mail alert display, incoming call/mail alert sound, andincoming call/mail alert vibration are turned ON (step S27).

Specific cases of controlling an incoming call/mail to the mobile phone101 described above will be further described.

<Case 1>

The following describes a case in which there is an incoming mail whilethe transfer data 225 is transferred from the mobile phone 101 to the PC103.

In this case, in the short range communication processing (step S15) ofthe mobile phone 101, processing goes through steps S21, S22, S23, S24,S29, S36, and S37, and returns to step S24. Then, after the datatransfer by short range wireless communication ends, processing goesthrough steps S25, S26, S27, and S28, and thereafter this processingends. That is, during data transfer by short range communication fromthe mobile phone 101 to the PC 103, if there is an incoming mail to themobile phone 101, the mail is received without notifying the operator ofanything. Then, the operator is notified that there is a received mailafter the data transfer ends.

Therefore, the operator in this case does not notice that there is anincoming mail during short range communication. This enables preventinga failure in short range communication caused by the operatoraccidentally trying to operate the mobile phone during thecommunication. That is, it is possible to prevent the mobile phone andthe reading unit from becoming separated out of the communication rangedue to the mobile phone being unintentionally picked up.

<Case 2>

The following describes a case in which there is an incoming call duringdata transfer of transfer data 331 by short range wireless communicationfrom the PC 103 to the mobile phone 101, and the amount of the transferdata 331 is small and the value α is three seconds.

In this case, in the short range communication processing (step S15) ofthe mobile phone 101, processing goes through steps S21, S22, S23, S24,S29, and S30. Also, the remaining communication time calculated in stepS31 is two seconds. In this case, since the remaining communication timetwo seconds) is shorter than the value α (=three seconds), processingproceeds from step S31 to step S32. Subsequently, processing goesthrough steps S33, S34, S35, S27, and S28. Then, the short rangecommunication processing ends, and processing returns to the originalstandby processing loop (steps S1 to S4). That is, the mobile phone 101continues data transfer by short range communication while holding theincoming call. Then, after the data transfer ends, the mobile phone 101performs incoming call alert display, incoming call alert sound, andincoming call alert vibration in accordance with the held incoming call,and prompts the operator to perform an answering operation.

That is, in this case, even if there is an incoming call to the mobilephone during short range communication, notification of an incoming callis not performed. After data transfer by the short range communicationends, incoming call alert display is displayed, incoming call alertsound is caused to ring, and incoming call alert vibration is caused tovibrate. Thus, it is possible to prevent a situation in which a failurein short range communication occurs due to the operator accidentallytrying to operate the mobile phone during data transfer by short rangecommunication.

<Case 3>

The following describes a case in which there is an incoming call duringdata transfer of the transfer data 225 from the mobile phone 101 to thePC 103, and the amount of the transfer data 225 is large and the value ais three seconds.

In this case, in the short range communication processing (step S15) ofthe mobile phone 101, processing goes through steps S21, S22, S23, S24,S29, and S30. Also, the remaining communication time calculated in stepS31 is ten seconds. In this case, since the remaining time (=tenseconds) is longer than the value α (=three seconds), processingproceeds from step S31 to step S38, and the CPU 201 notifies the callerof incoming call block. Then, the CPU 201 returns the processing to stepS24, and continues data communication. When the data communication ends(step S25), processing proceeds to steps S26, S27, and S28, and returnsto the usual standby processing loop (steps S1 to S4).

That is, even if there is an incoming call to the mobile phone duringthe short range communication, the incoming call is blocked in thiscase. Thus, it is possible to prevent a situation in which a failure inshort range communication occurs due to the operator accidentally tryingto operate the mobile phone during data transfer by short rangecommunication.

Note that, when blocking an incoming voice communication, the incomingcall is not recorded in a history in the above processing. However, sucha blocked incoming call may be kept in the history, and a blockedincoming call history may be displayed with a received mail history instep S28. That is, a history of an incoming call/mail received by thefirst communication unit 209 (a received mail history and/or a blockedincoming call history) that is recorded during communication by thesecond communication unit 211 may be displayed after the communicationends by the second communication unit 211.

<Second Embodiment>

Although the first embodiment was described with an example ofcommunication using a coupler that utilizes an induced electric fieldwhen a communication unit performs short range communication, shortrange communication may be performed using a loop antenna suited to awavelength of a communication carrier wave. In this case, it issufficient to replace the coupler 212 of the mobile phone 101 (shown inFIG. 2) and the coupler 301 of the reading unit 102 (shown in FIG. 3)with loop antennas.

Further, as a specific example of the short range wirelesscommunication, not only a method using an induced electric field, butalso a method using electromagnetic induction may be employed. Ofcourse, a method using RFID or FeliCa may also be employed. Moreover, inaddition to a method using a radio wave, a method using opticalcommunication such as IrDA may also be employed.

Also, in the first embodiment, the incoming call block processing isperformed as a reply in step S38. However, telephone answering may beperformed to the other party who is calling, and the mobile phone 101may not display anything until data communication ends. In this case, atelephone answering history may also be displayed in addition to areceived mail history in step S28. Further, in the first embodiment,processing is switched so that an incoming call is blocked or held inaccordance with the remaining communication time. However, irrespectiveof the remaining communication time, if any incoming call/mail is judgedto be an incoming call as a result of judgment in step S29 in FIG. 5B,all the incoming calls may be either blocked or held.

Also, although the aforementioned embodiments are described using whatis known as a mobile phone, the embodiments are not limited to this.That is, it will be clear that the present invention is applicable toany communication apparatus that includes at least a first communicationunit that performs wireless communication for a call and a mail, and asecond communication unit having a short range communication function.

According to the present invention, even if there is an incoming call oran incoming mail to a communication apparatus during short rangecommunication, the operator will not be notified of the incomingcall/mail until the short range communication ends. Therefore, thepresent invention enables preventing the operator from accidentallyoperating the communication apparatus during short range communicationand thus, preventing a failure in short range communication.

The present invention is also achievable in embodiments such as asystem, an apparatus, a method, a program, or a storage medium.Specifically, it may also be applied to a system constituted by multipledevices and may also be applied to an apparatus constituted by a singledevice.

Note that the case where the functionality of the abovementionedembodiment is achieved by directly or remotely supplying a softwareprogram to a system or device and reading out and executing the suppliedprogram code through a computer in the system or device is included inthe scope of the present invention. In this case, the supplied programis a computer program that corresponds to the flowchart indicated in thedrawings in the embodiment.

Accordingly, the program code itself, installed in a computer so as torealize the functional processing of the present invention through acomputer, also realizes the present invention. In other words, thecomputer program itself, for realizing the functional processing of thepresent invention, is also included within the scope of the presentinvention.

In this case, object code, a program executed through an interpreter,script data supplied to an OS, or the like may be used, as long as ithas the functions of the program.

Examples of the a computer readable storage medium that can be used tosupply the computer program include Floppy® disks, hard disks, opticaldisks, magneto-optical disks, MOs, CD-ROMs, CD-Rs, CD-RWs, magnetictape, non-volatile memory cards, ROMs, and DVDs (DVD-ROMs, DVD-Rs).

Using a browser of a client computer to connect to an Internet homepageand downloading the computer program of the present invention to astorage medium such as a hard disk can be given as another method forsupplying the program. In this case, the downloaded program may be acompressed file including a function for automatic installation.Furthermore, this method may be realized by dividing the program codethat makes up the program of the present invention into a plurality offiles and downloading each file from different homepages. In otherwords, a WWW server that allows a plurality of users to download theprogram files for realizing the functional processing of the presentinvention through a computer also falls within the scope of the presentinvention.

Furthermore, the program of the present invention may be encrypted,stored in a storage medium such as a CD-ROM, and distributed to users.In this case, a user that has cleared a predetermined condition isallowed to download key information for removing the cryptography from ahomepage via the Internet, use the key information to decrypt theprogram, and install the program on a computer.

Also, the functions of the present embodiment may be realized, inaddition to through the execution of a loaded program using a computer,through cooperation with an OS or the like running on the computer basedon instructions of the program. In this case, the OS or the likeperforms part or all of the actual processing, and the functions of theabove-described embodiment are realized by that processing.

Furthermore, part or all of the functionality of the aforementionedembodiment may be written into a memory provided in a function expansionboard installed in the computer, a function expansion unit connected tothe computer, or the like, into which the program read out from thestorage medium is written. In this case, after the program has beenwritten into the function expansion board or the function expansionunit, a CPU or the like included in the function expansion board or thefunction expansion unit performs part or all of the actual processingbased on the instructions of the program.

While the present invention has been described with reference toembodiments, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited tothe disclosed embodiments. The scope of the following claims is to beaccorded the broadest interpretation so as to encompass all suchmodifications and equivalent structures and functions.

This application claims the benefit of Japanese Patent Application No.2008-099807, filed Apr. 7, 2008, which is hereby incorporated byreference herein in its entirety.

The invention claimed is:
 1. A communication apparatus comprising: afirst communication unit configured to perform wireless communicationfor at least a call or a mail; a second communication unit that isdifferent from the first communication unit; a prohibition unitconfigured to change a notification function that notifies a user of anincoming call/mail received by the first communication unit to aprohibited status in accordance with a start of communication by thesecond communication unit; an obtaining unit configured to obtain acommunication status of the communication by the second communicationunit; and an incoming call control unit configured to perform telephoneanswering to the incoming voice communication and notify the user of ahistory of the telephone answering after an end of the communication bythe second communication unit in a case where it is determined based onthe communication status obtained by the obtaining unit that the secondcommunication unit is performing a communication.
 2. The communicationapparatus according to claim 1, wherein, among incoming call/mail alertdisplay, incoming call/mail alert sound, and incoming call/mail alertvibration, the prohibition unit turns OFF any notification function thatis in an ON status.
 3. The communication apparatus according to claim 2,further comprising a cancellation unit configured to cancel theprohibited status of the notification function in accordance with an endof communication by the second communication unit, wherein thecancellation unit turns ON a notification function that was turned OFFby the prohibition unit.
 4. The communication apparatus according toclaim 1, wherein a history of an incoming call/mail received by thefirst communication unit during communication by the second transmissionunit is displayed after an end of the communication by the secondcommunication unit.
 5. The communication apparatus according to claim 1,further comprising: a mail reception unit configured to, if an incomingcall/mail received during communication by the second communication unitis a mail to be received, receive the mail; and a notification unitconfigured to notify that the mail reception unit has received a mailafter an end of the communication by the second communication unit. 6.The communication apparatus according to claim 1, comprising: whereinthe obtaining unit configured to obtain a remaining data amount orremaining communication time of the communication by the secondcommunication unit, and wherein the incoming call control unitconfigured to (i) block the incoming voice communication or (ii) holdthe incoming voice communication and cancel the holding after an end ofthe communication by the second communication unit, in accordance withthe remaining data amount or remaining communication time obtained bythe obtaining unit.
 7. The communication apparatus according to claim 1,wherein a communication range of the second communication unit isshorter than a communication range of the first communication unit. 8.The communication apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising avibrating unit configured to notify an incoming call/mail received bythe first transmission unit by vibration, wherein the prohibition unitlimits the vibration by the vibrating unit.
 9. The communicationapparatus according to claim 8, wherein the prohibition unit prohibitsthe vibrating unit from execution of the vibration.
 10. Thecommunication apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising anaudio output unit configured to notify an incoming call/mail received bythe first transmission unit by an audio output, wherein the prohibitionunit limits audio output by the audio output unit.
 11. The communicationapparatus according to claim 10, wherein the prohibition unit prohibitsthe audio output unit from outputting the audio output.
 12. Thecommunication apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising adisplay unit configured to notify an incoming call/mail received by thefirst communication unit by a display output, wherein the prohibitionunit limits a display by a display unit.
 13. The communication apparatusaccording to claim 12, wherein the prohibition unit prohibits thedisplay unit from displaying the incoming.
 14. The communicationapparatus according to claim 1, wherein the communication by the secondcommunication unit is performed by using Near Field Communication. 15.The communication apparatus according to claim 1, wherein predetermineddata is transmitted by the second communication unit.
 16. Thecommunication apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the secondcommunication unit performs communication using an electromagneticinduction.
 17. The communication apparatus according to claim 1, whereinthe prohibition unit executes the limitation in accordance with start ofcommunication by the second communication unit.
 18. The communicationapparatus according to claim 1, further comprising: a disconnection unitconfigured to disconnect a wireless connection by the secondcommunication unit with an external apparatus in accordance with an endof communication by the second communication unit; and a cancellationunit configured to cancel the prohibited status of the notificationfunction in accordance with the disconnection of the wireless connectionof the second communication unit.
 19. The communication apparatusaccording to claim 1, wherein the incoming call control unit isconfigured to (i) perform telephone answering to the incoming voicecommunication and notify the user of a history of the telephoneanswering after an end of the communication by the second communicationunit or (ii) hold the incoming voice communication and cancel theholding after an end of the communication by the second communicationunit, in accordance with the communication status obtained by theobtaining unit.
 20. The communication apparatus according to claim 1,wherein the obtaining unit obtains a remaining data amount or remainingcommunication time of the communication by the second communicationunit, and wherein the incoming call control unit performs telephoneanswering to the incoming voice communication and notifies the user of ahistory of the telephone answering after an end of the communication bythe second communication unit in accordance with the remaining dataamount or remaining communication time obtained by the obtaining unit.21. The communication apparatus according to claim 1, wherein theobtaining unit obtains a remaining data amount or remainingcommunication time of the communication by the second communicationunit, and wherein the incoming call control unit (i) performs telephoneanswering to the incoming voice communication and notifies the user of ahistory of the telephone answering after an end of the communication bythe second communication unit or (ii) holds the incoming voicecommunication and cancels the holding after an end of the communicationby the second communication unit, in accordance with the remaining dataamount or remaining communication time obtained by the obtaining unit.22. A method for controlling a communication apparatus that includes atleast a first communication unit configured to perform wirelesscommunication for at least a call or a mail and a second communicationunit that is different from the first communication unit, the methodcomprising: a prohibition step of changing a notification function thatnotifies a user of an incoming call/mail received by the firstcommunication unit to a prohibited status in accordance with a start ofcommunication by the second communication unit; an obtaining step ofobtaining a communication status of the communication by the secondcommunication unit; and an incoming call control step of performingtelephone answering to the incoming voice communication and notifyingthe user of a history of the telephone answering after an end of thecommunication by the second communication unit in a case where it isdetermined based on the communication status obtained in the obtainingstep that the second communication unit is performing a communication.